A FOUR-MEMBER team will represent Guyana at the North American Power Lifting (NAPF) Caribbean Powerlifting Championships set for August 15 to 20 in St Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
The team includes lone female lifter Andrea Alicia Smith as well as male lifters Erwyn Smith and Karel Mars, with Kathleen Paul as the team manager.Ms Smith will be competing in the Women’s 63kg Open Division with her sights set on obliterating the current Squat and Deadlift records in her division which stand at 160kg (352lb) and 142.5kg (314lb) respectively.
Mr Smith will be competing in the Men’s 93kg Open Division tomorrow at 09:35hrs while Karel Mars will be lifting at 13:00hrs. kind
Team Guyana had been plagued with sponsorship issues for this overseas engagement but timely assistance from some members of Corporate Guyana and ordinary citizens made this trip a reality for the trio.
Guyana’s team was initially set at 22 comprising of 19 athletes and 3 officials. It was, however, reduced after the competition’s organisers changed the format.
The team was further reduced due to sponsorship issues, which found the athletes applying for individual sponsorship even as the Federation appealed to Corporate sponsors and Government.
The Government had chipped in to sponsor the female athlete while other sponsors were Public Utilities Commission, International Pharmaceutical Agency, Demerara Harbour Bridge Ltd, GUYOIL, Evan’s Brother Automotive, Hand-in-Hand, DIGICEL, Tower Suites, Demerara Mutual, Caribbean Airlines and Sookraj Cambio.